Versions of ECSCLI prior to 3.x may require a manual install of the python requests package. When I installed v3.1.9, the PIP install process appears to have taken care of installing the python requests package for me, but I saw reports of this issue while reading other documentation. Either way, you can manuallyinstall the requests packageeither by using “pip install requests” or downloading the codefrom GitHuband running “python setup.py install”.

Install ECSCLI using Python PIP:

There are frequent updates and fixes being made to the ECSCLI package. The latest version of ECSCLI can always be downloaded and installed via pip using “pip install ecscli” from a windows command prompt. PIP will be in your system path once you’ve installed python so it can be run from any directory. If you want to archive a copy, use “pip download ecscli” rather than “pip install ecscli”. As an alternative, you can also find the ECSCLI install package available for download at EMC’s support site (v2 is available here).

ECS CLI PIP Installation and Configuration

You will need to set up a configuration profile once ECSCLI is installed. Configuration profiles address issues with older versions of the ECSCLI regarding authentication and python dependencies. A profile simply contains the hostname and port along with an existing management user who will be authenticating to that host. Several profiles can be created but only one can be active. Once the active profile is set, ECSCLI will then use that profile for authenticating and sending commands.

Normally one profile will always be active. Because this is the first time a profile is being created, ECSCLI will run without an active profile. The CLI will prompt the user to enter the hostname, IP, port and management user for the profile. The “*” shows the active profile that will be used. Several profiles can be configured, however only one profile can be active at a time. The profiles are stored in .json files in the home directory with the name prefix “ecscliconfig_”.

Since the currently active profile was deleted in this example, the ecscli chose another profile to set as the active profile.

Ecscli configuration handles the “–hostname” and “–port” arguments and manages the tokens for subsequent management requests. Authentication is still required. This as well as all other requests are simplified since cookie related arguments are no longer required.